Washington closely follows the situation around Karabakh - State Department

YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. The United States is deeply concerned and is closely following the situation around Nagorno-Karabakh, US State Department Deputy Spokesman Vedant Patel said at October 4 press briefing.

"We’re of course concerned by the situation after the recent hostilities, and it has resulted in over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing the Nagorno-Karabakh region into Armenia, and we’re closely monitoring the situation on the ground.  Of course, we continue to be concerned and paying close attention to the humanitarian impacts,' he said.. 

According to him, this was one of the reasons for the recent meeting of US, EU and Russian representatives in Istanbul on September 17 (two days before Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh).

"The meeting was held to address specific urgent humanitarian issues and provide potential humanitarian assistance in Nagorno-Karabakh," Patel added.

According to POLITICO, at the Istanbul meeting the U.S. was represented by Louis Bono, Washington’s senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations, while the EU dispatched Toivo Klaar, its representative for the region. Russia, meanwhile, sent Igor Khovaev, who serves as Putin’s special envoy on relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

A senior diplomat with knowledge of the discussions told POLITICO the meeting took place on September 17 in Istanbul as part of efforts to pressure Azerbaijan to end its nine-month blockade of the enclave and allow in humanitarian aid convoys from Armenia. .-0-